MLM Fail

Actually - there are some legit MLMs, although they are in the minority.

I know some people who do pretty well with them. The key is finding one where you can make a living just selling the product, rather than by recruiting downline - any downline commission you get is a bonus. That Bullshit program just focussed on the bizopp style ones, probably cos it made better TV to be unbalanced.

(If the presentation spends more time talking about the income opportunity and comp plan rather than the product range, it's a scam. )

It's also total bullshit that they take hardly any work. That's the same line people use to fling ebooks. All the people I know who've done well have worked their asses off building up a customer base, and then reaped the benefits later on. Same as any sales job.

The guy I know who did best with them was selling these fancy Chinese regenerative herbs, and spent a lot of time in Chinatown getting to know waiters. He used to do sales training sessions for them at 11pm after the restaurant had closed. He moved onto other things a few years ago, but still gets a nice cheque every month.

They're not for me personally though. I'd rather slog away in front of a computer than go talk to a bunch of people I don't actually like.


EDIT: I agree with what Frank says - any of you reading this who haven't had any face to face sales training, go along to some MLM pitches and take notes about how the salesperson works it. You'll make a lot more money if you learn how to sell. They use a lot of psychological triggers: need for belonging, laziness, fear, greed, need for approval etc.
 


supplyshock said:
As soon as the niceties were done with she popped the big question "How would you like to make $4,000-5,000 extra every month for barely any work?"
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You've got to be fucking kidding me. Anyone stupid enough to believe this shit doesn't have any business being in ANY business, especially multi-level marketing.

People like that will give anything a bad name.

And those saying MLM isn't legitimate... Well, you're being short-sighted.

MLM is a genius distribution model. You get people who are raving fans of your product/service to SELF-CONSUME the product/service, then with an evangelical-type excitement go out and tell people about their product/service. These excited people find other people who get excited, and so on.

The PROBLEM is that they will burn bridges by not knowing when "no" truly means "no." Also, shitty people look at others like they have dollar signs over their heads. That's a terribly ineffective approach.

When McDonalds added toys to Happy Meals, they became one of the worlds-largest toy distributors. Why? They had a distribution network in place.

Same goes for an MLM. When Amway adds a new product, why do they have an overnight growth in revenue? Existing sales reps and customers who love the products end up buying this new product. People who have existing distribution in place profit.

Yes, your friend who pitches you on some opportunity to become a millionaire selling fucking magical berry juice is probably a moron and will keep pitching everyone they know about "the next big thing" every other month.

One of my sad, pathetic, friends keeps coming around every month with some new thing... "A magic wand that heals your pains, makes bad wine taste better, blah blah," "financial services/credit card processing," "a hologram to make your gas mileage improve (that costs $200)" etc. I stopped answering his calls because he's a fucktard.
 
supplyshock said:
Long story short, turns out she doesn't live that close to me.. more like an hours drive. As soon as the niceties were done with she popped the big question "How would you like to make $4,000-5,000 extra every month for barely any work?"
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On second thoughts, my answer to this would be:

"Emma (or whatever her name is).. are you trying to tell me you've become a hooker?"
 
fm1234 said:
Actually, I think everybody who can should attend at least one of those presentations.

Many years ago I saw something that struck me as pure fucking brilliance, an MLM recruiting technique that I've adapted to various sales pitches many times. A high school buddy contacted me out of the blue, because he was getting into this new business and he wanted my opinion of it, because I owned a business and am all smart and shit. I went out of curiousity, and because I figured I could possibly give him constructive criticism.

It was a presentation for Equinox, one of the big deal health MLMs in the 1990s. During the course of the dipshit presentation to which I was subjected, they discussed ways to breach the subject to your friends. Basically, you use one approach for people you think of as "below" you, at least in terms of intelligence, business acumen, etc. and you use the "can I get your opinion" to those who you consider "above" you.

Now, hopefully, anyone reading this knows enough about marketing to understand what just happened: I got the pitch equivalent of an anonymous cock stroke on a crowded train. Obviously, the only angle ever used is the "above" one -- then that person comes into the meeting, and finds out that he is an "above" type, and ideally rides that euphoria all the way to the dotted line.

I was only 23 at the time, and most of my sales experience up to that point was with aggressive and visual stuff that largely sold itself (gadgets, impulse buys, fancy cars, etc.) so I didn't so much have "sales" knowledge as I just had an amiable personality, a love of money and no qualms about getting rejected. So to me at the time, this just struck me as pure genius.

Short version/moral of this story is, MLM may be fucktarded shit for fucktards, but it's worth joining one of the bigger ones, not the online shit but the ones that insist on in-person interaction, just to go in and soak up all the pitch angles and manipulation. The guys that work as "magnet" recruiters are generally master salesmen, and it's a tuition-free lesson in how to work a room if you happen to have a free night (if you've ever been to an MLM presentation, this was the guy/girl who was the region's top earner, who just coincidentally happened to be in town that one night and agreed to share some wisdom with the plebians.)

I think a lot of people who work in IM run into issues because they lack any actual sales skills, and work too much on the purely mechanical aspects of SEO, PPC bidding, etc. You want a free two-hour course in salesmanship, let yourself get talked into attending one of these stupid things.

Other perks include but are not limited to free, unlimited coffee, and a general abundance of tail, especially if the company has anything to do with health/beauty.


Frank
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Great post, very interesting. I might go to one someday if I get the opportunity.
 
Just as I read this thread... :-/ Got a call from the guy today about meeting up in starbucks and discuss a project. He referenced the vice president of the company I used to work for, so I thought it may be something decent. As I meet him, I can just see the cheap sales tactics right away - how many kids, what they do, etc, trying to connect and shit. Had to start interrupting and was like c'mon what's its all about, whats the project, conditions, etc... The dumb ass doesn't stop with bullshit how amazon is so broke and how it only makes the investors reach and all low life bs like you need to think for the family and how this company is so brilliant. So I ask him if this is some mlm bullshit like amway and he is like yeah, amway... Was so pissed about wasting the time.
 
amateursurgeon said:
Actually - there are some legit MLMs, although they are in the minority.
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MLMs traditionally feature unpopular products that can not move on their own. Think about this logically: The whole MLM structure is completely inefficient and makes the product more expensive for the consumer.

MLMs have a 99% failure rate. They are designed to make money for people at the top of the pyramid only.

Even if you're an incredible salesman, you're likely to make far less with MLM than pitching the same product directly without all the uplines eating up your commissions. Of course if you're at the top, there is no upline eating up your commission. Instead you have a massive downline to leech off from.

The best MLM in the world won't give you as good of a payout as going direct would.

The only time you should consider going into MLM is if you're going to be starting your own MLM.

MLMs that feature a product are legit in the sense that it's a legal enterprise, but the failure rate is going to still be high and the vast majority people will lose money. Don't take my word for it, their own disclosures even admit this
 
bluechinagroup said:
MLMs have a 99% failure rate. They are designed to make money for people at the top of the pyramid only.
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I get people objecting to MLM because most people who do it are morons, think it's get-rich-quick, they annoy family and friends, etc.

The part that I find inexcusable is claiming that the "99% failure rate" and that "money is made at the top of the pyramid only" are reasons why it's terrible.

That makes no sense.

Look at society. How many people are "winning" in society? 99% of SOCIETY fails at life. They end up needing Social Security, or someone else to care for them.

People who work for a typical corporation - you think they're "winning"? Fuck no. Look at the corporate structure:
1 CEO
5 C-Level Officers
10 Senior Managers
20 Jr. Managers
40 Supervisors
100 Worker bees

At least compare apples-to-apples and if you're going to bash one business model, at least be consistent.
 
GerardWon said:
Worlds_Greatest_Vitamin_Supplement_Doug_Grant.gif






I always thought it was having legions of little girls sellin cookies for you door to door. You know, The Girl Scouts.
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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__T9jMCv9f0]‪Boondocks Candy Hussle By Cindy‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]
 
Dwight Schrute said:
I get people objecting to MLM because most people who do it are morons, think it's get-rich-quick, they annoy family and friends, etc.

The part that I find inexcusable is claiming that the "99% failure rate" and that "money is made at the top of the pyramid only" are reasons why it's terrible.

That makes no sense.

Look at society. How many people are "winning" in society? 99% of SOCIETY fails at life. They end up needing Social Security, or someone else to care for them.

People who work for a typical corporation - you think they're "winning"? Fuck no. Look at the corporate structure:
1 CEO
5 C-Level Officers
10 Senior Managers
20 Jr. Managers
40 Supervisors
100 Worker bees

At least compare apples-to-apples and if you're going to bash one business model, at least be consistent.
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Someone selling a widget through an MLM is going to get paid a far lower commission than someone selling a widget through a direct marketing relationship where they are paid a straight commission and there isn't a huge upline involved. Sure they'll be "making money" with an MLM, but they're getting raped by their upline and making A LOT LESS because of that! Nothing about this is illegal, it's just a lousy deal for that guy who is a good salesman.

Also every MLM apologist I've talked to gave me the same lame defense you just did.

By the way MLMs also have the following at their Utah headquarters:

CEO
C-Level Officers
Senior Managers
Jr. Managers
Supervisors

On top of the epic sized downlines.

Walmart is going to win every time in efficiency, sorry.
 
I can't believe that some people have the audacity to pitch to their friends. I had one who I won't even communicate with anymore because they tried pitching me shithole vitamins, which was doubly insulting since I sell vitamins myself, although not even close to my primary niche.

That said, this is why I love SEO. I NEVER push. I am a pull marketer, and always will be. Maybe I should hustle harder, maybe I can make more money, maybe I should make calls and bang on doors. But guess what - I don't want to, I don't like it, and it's not my style. I like to leave people alone and want the same in return.

But if someone Googles my product and finds my site in the top 3... sweet.

SEO FTW.
 
Pure wisdom from these 2 posts:


sweetweb said:
Broke people join MLM.

Ballas create them.
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fm1234 said:
Actually, I think everybody who can should attend at least one of those presentations.

Many years ago I saw something that struck me as pure fucking brilliance, an MLM recruiting technique that I've adapted to various sales pitches many times. A high school buddy contacted me out of the blue, because he was getting into this new business and he wanted my opinion of it, because I owned a business and am all smart and shit. I went out of curiousity, and because I figured I could possibly give him constructive criticism.

It was a presentation for Equinox, one of the big deal health MLMs in the 1990s. During the course of the dipshit presentation to which I was subjected, they discussed ways to breach the subject to your friends. Basically, you use one approach for people you think of as "below" you, at least in terms of intelligence, business acumen, etc. and you use the "can I get your opinion" to those who you consider "above" you.

Now, hopefully, anyone reading this knows enough about marketing to understand what just happened: I got the pitch equivalent of an anonymous cock stroke on a crowded train. Obviously, the only angle ever used is the "above" one -- then that person comes into the meeting, and finds out that he is an "above" type, and ideally rides that euphoria all the way to the dotted line.

I was only 23 at the time, and most of my sales experience up to that point was with aggressive and visual stuff that largely sold itself (gadgets, impulse buys, fancy cars, etc.) so I didn't so much have "sales" knowledge as I just had an amiable personality, a love of money and no qualms about getting rejected. So to me at the time, this just struck me as pure genius.

Short version/moral of this story is, MLM may be fucktarded shit for fucktards, but it's worth joining one of the bigger ones, not the online shit but the ones that insist on in-person interaction, just to go in and soak up all the pitch angles and manipulation. The guys that work as "magnet" recruiters are generally master salesmen, and it's a tuition-free lesson in how to work a room if you happen to have a free night (if you've ever been to an MLM presentation, this was the guy/girl who was the region's top earner, who just coincidentally happened to be in town that one night and agreed to share some wisdom with the plebians.)

I think a lot of people who work in IM run into issues because they lack any actual sales skills, and work too much on the purely mechanical aspects of SEO, PPC bidding, etc. You want a free two-hour course in salesmanship, let yourself get talked into attending one of these stupid things.

Other perks include but are not limited to free, unlimited coffee, and a general abundance of tail, especially if the company has anything to do with health/beauty.


Frank
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EricVonDoobie said:
Great post, very interesting. I might go to one someday if I get the opportunity.
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Apply for a job selling health insurance. The top companies have top recruiters -- it will blow your mind how they get to know you quickly and start tapping those emotional triggers.
 
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